1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diverging sorting apparatus used for sorting bundles of newspapers, packed articles and so on (hereinafter referred to, for brevity, as "articles") while they are conveyed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when sorting articles from an intermediate portion of an article conveyance path or line consisting of conveyors or the like onto a branch line extending in a direction intersecting a conveyance direction aligned with the article conveyance line, a sorting apparatus is used, which includes, for example, a multiplicity of groups of synchronously driven conveyor rollers provided on the intermediate article conveyance line portion such that respective orientations of the conveyor roller groups gradually change in a direction from the article conveyance line toward the branch line, and a plurality of parallel arranged narrow belt conveyors oriented toward the conveyance direction of the article conveyance line and vertically movable to project from or retract into spaces between the adjacent conveyor roller groups.
In the conventional sorting apparatus thus constructed, when sorting the articles from the article conveyance line onto the branch line, the vertically movable belt conveyors are held in the retracted position below the conveyor roller groups, so that the articles fed downstream along the article conveyance line are guided by the conveyor rollers toward the branch line while changing their orientations toward the branch line.
Alternatively when advancing the articles downstream along the article conveyance line without sorting, the vertically movable belt conveyors are lifted upwards toward the projecting position in which respective conveyor surfaces of the conveyor belts are located above the conveyor roller groups. The articles are, therefore, transported by the belt conveyors downstream along the article conveyance line past the branched intermediate portion of the article conveyance line.
In the conventional sorting apparatus, however, due to the belt conveyors constructed to project from or retract into spaces between the adjacent conveyor roller groups, intervals between the articles being conveyed should be larger than the length of the belt conveyors. This poses a limit to the efficiency of the sorting operation.
The present assignee has proposed a sorting transfer unit which includes, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 9-240819, a multiplicity of spherical sorting rollers designed to swing simultaneously to assume two different orientations for enabling sorting of articles even when the articles are fed in succession at relatively small intervals.
The disclosed sorting transfer unit is, however, not fully satisfactory in that because the articles, as they are transferred from an article conveyance line to a branch line, are shifted in a lateral direction, the orientation of the article after sorting is substantially 90.degree. out of phase with the orientation of the article before sorting.